Abe Sapien and the Witch

Chapter 22

Chapter twenty-two

One of the junior agents that had been helping her earlier stumbled up against the doorway, blood trickling down his forehead from a long gash over his eye as he held his side, "I think we got them all, the rest of them left in a hurry but we got the last of the stragglers," he said, adding "Ah, shit." to the sentence when he saw her.

"What happened here?" Red asked, as Abe managed to pry the twine away from her wrists, bundling her into his arms before cradling her face in his hand, his heart breaking at the vacant expression within her eyes.

"We were attacked, she was just finished with making some anti-magic stuff for you guys and, well, they got us. I ran out of the van and shot one of them, but another guy hit me with something heavy, and I got knocked down. Some tall asshole went in there after that, he was inside for a while I guess and when he came out, he just sorta waved his arm and they were gone. I heard him say something about coming back for her later when he was ready, but I guess I fell unconscious again after that, I don't remember much but waking up and coming over here. Jeez, he really did a number on her, huh?"

"Goddamn witches..." Red said, his jaws gritting as he looked at his friend, who held her close with his head bowed now, in sadness.

*****

She woke in the medical bay, her eyes blinking rapidly as she tried to focus on where she was. Her body hurt, what was wrong with her hands? She tried to reach up to rub her eyes, which jerked open as pain flared up through her arms. Her breathing started to gasp as she panicked, until a soothing voice was at her side.

"Calm down, it's going to be alright..." the voice whispered, and she tried to lean closer to it with the instant comfort of knowing that Abe was alongside her. A warm hand placed itself against her forehead, stroking it as he spoke, his tone a comforting hush amid machines peeping and her own shallow breaths.

"You're safe now, it's alright..." he whispered, and she leaned back against the pillow until her breath calmed, and her vision focused on his face- that beautiful face leaning over her. A tear slipped from her eye and he swept it away with the tender swipe of a thumb, careful not to harm the bruised skin. "What happened, my darling?" he asked, his voice gentle.

She closed her eyes for a moment, letting her memories flood back to her. With a shudder, she opened them again and looked directly into the eyes of her lover, panic in her thoughts as the word_Laufey! _ bounced through them.

"Laufey, is that a person? Is that the man that attacked you?" he asked, raising his head to greet Red and Liz as they approached. She started to cry then, and he held her close as voiceless sobs wracked through her body. He could feel the ache of her pain in his own chest through their contact and would have cried himself from the despair of it, had he tear ducts to weep with.

Red put his hand on his friends' shoulder while Liz pulled a plastic blue curtain closed around them, shutting them off from the other injured agents in the medical ward. Abe stroked her back as she cried, letting her share all her fear and pain with him until her body tired, and her head lay against his shoulder, her hair which was damp from her tears clinging to his chest in hopeless strands.